First known as the falsetto-voiced frontman for the acclaimed U.K. indie group Wild Beasts, Hayden Thorpe explores similar themes -- sensuality, masculinity -- as a solo artist. On the confessional balladry of 2019's Diviner, he took his music in a more intimate direction, then added an expansive, electronic touch to 2021's Moondust for My Diamond.

Thorpe's musical career began at 16, when he and schoolmate Ben Little formed the duo Fauve in 2002. Two years and a few lineup changes later, the group became Wild Beasts, who soon put their own dramatic and sensual stamp on the often-straitlaced world of British indie. Their freewheeling, chamber pop-inspired music -- and Thorpe's careening falsetto in particular -- earned the band critical acclaim, and their 2009 album Two Dancers was nominated for the 2010 Mercury Prize. Wild Beasts continued to carve out a distinctive musical niche for themselves with 2014's Smother, which debuted in the Top Ten of the U.K. Albums Chart, and 2017's John Congleton-produced Boy King. After that album's release, Wild Beasts called it quits. The band spent over a year saying goodbye to their fans, releasing the 2017 Punk Drunk and Trembling EP and embarking on a 2018 farewell tour that was capped by Last Night All My Dreams Came True, a collection of the band's definitive songs recorded live at RAK Studios. The week after Wild Beasts played their final show, Thorpe entered the studio with collaborator and producer Leo Abrahams to work on a set of introspective, piano-based songs embellished with hints of disco and electronic music. Recorded in London, Kendal, and Cornwall over the course of 2018 with a creative team that also featured Warpaint's Stella Mozgawa on drums and modular synth expert Benge, Diviner appeared in May 2019 on Wild Beasts' former label, Domino Records. The album reached number 16 on the U.K. Album Charts. On the following year's Aerial Songs, an EP that stemmed from his residency at Cumbria's Aerial Festival, Thorpe teamed up with Bullion, Richard Formby, and Fabian Prynn. He also worked with Formby and Bullion on his next full-length, Moondust for My Diamond. A lush, electronic-based set of songs about absorbing the wonder of the world, it arrived on Domino in October 2021. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi